VMMI

07.05.2014

Alphabets of Life by Kim H. Veltman

History links a tower in Babylon with the rise of 72 sacred alphabets in 72 countries. There is also a pre-history that includes Russia, China, India, Persia and Middle Asia. Initially, marks and signs symbolizing words and ideas led to secret, cryptic alphabets used for magic and control. Sanskrit introduced several models linking sounds in the mouth (phonology) with principles of creation (tattvas), movements of breath (yoga) and movements of the body (martial arts). This led to matrices for runes and letters, which were then aligned with space (cosmology) and time (chronology). As it spread eastwards, Sanskrit served as a model for Burmese, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Philippine alphabets.

Its westward spead entailed three main paths. One was by sea (spice routes). This explains why early Indian alphabets have the same letters as the first Egyptian alphabets and the alphabets of King Solomon. Another was via silk roads and nomadic tribes such as the Scythians, Sarmatians and Alans. Here, the Caucasus and Pontic Steppe around the Black Sea played an important role in the rise of Slavic, Germanic and Runic alphabets. A third was via the settled empires of Persia and Babylon, which favoured a more compact form, linking 22 letters to the cosmos, namely, to 3 worlds, 7 planets, and 12 zodiac signs. This model came to Europe via the Holy Land, and the Mediterranean. The cosmic dimension of alphabets is reflected in number symbolism (gematria, alchemy), geometrical patterns, games, our stories and systems of the skies, in signs and seals, weaving and decoration. Alphabets of Life shows how the marks and letters we use for communciation in everyday life, began with a quest to understand and communicate the miracle of life itself.